I Just Broke the G String
I read my repertoire and think
“God, this is depressing”
The reality is that my inspiration flames burn
Out of the belly of my pain
Melodies are magical words
Deep treasures waiting to be discovered
I want to express it all
And keep the body
Combined with the spiritual beginnings
I am young
To think I can have this all
Still I hope
Ponder
dream
I am awake and naked
In every crowd
I don’t belong breathing in
An audience Solitary
Thinking
Being

“God, this is simplicity”
Creating a universe out of Nothing

Imagination
Creates reality
Still I am thinking
Hoping
Dreaming
Loving
Breathing
Burning
The passions of my misgivings
The foundations of creations beginnings
The meters of language
The metronome clicking
Gauging my finger speed
Pressing black and white
Spaces on the Steinway
Expressing reality

“I just broke the G String.”

God,
I am silently laughing
While the vibrations of power chords
Linger my thought waves
Into a composition
Previously unrecognized
Now named,
“I Just Broke the G String”

Still I am smiling
Pondering
Wishing
Hoping
I won’t have to pay
For the replacement string
On the Steinway
To some other novice practitioner
This would be concerning
Perhaps this would stunt the development
Of their repertoire practice sessions
I am hoping
Imagination wandering
To the next set of fingertips
Pressing black and white spaces
Discovering the last pssions that sat here
Broke the G string
On this out of tune Steinway

As I exist naked
Solitary
Thinking
Somewhere in a crowded train
Humming a melody
A newly discovered composition
Entirely without G
“God,
This is my bemused reality,
To give myself the ultimate passionate compliment”
Rachmaninoff would understand
Somewhere in a universe
Of compositions he instigated
Through black and white spaces
Dreaming
Pondering
Hoping
Loving
Sailing a Russian sea of misgivings
He gave me some room
With a Steinway
Unable to love him
His flesh old and storm war weathered
I, frustrated and burnt
Rose up from the fires of revolution
The devilish ghost of Paganini
Accompanying me
Somewhere perhaps off key
My melody
“Oh, sssss
I Just Broke the G String”
While God, Me, Rachmaninoff, and Paganini
Are rolling, laughing
As Mother Russia is burning
Our inspiration genealogy
Into future musical heritage
Compositions endlessly continuing
The pain of lonely genius
Is the Devil
The piano form
Allows me and my forefathers
To symbolically embody
“Burn
Burn,
Burn me!”
She says
Mother Russia
Is laughing at a distance
I hear voices
As the unknown pianist
Plays Rachmaninoff’s pain
Paganini’s pain, my pain
Of “Oh God”
I just broke the G string
Of the Devil’s plaything
I just created a universe with this composition
A reality
Humming alone on a train
Accompanied in a far off room
Given by God
Instigated by Paganini
Taught by Rachmaninoff
This is my reality
Now that I have broken the G string
On the Steinway
I am complete
Free to rise from the flames
Ashes of our Mother
Hoping
Wishing
Dreaming
Loving
Teaching
“God”
What could have been heard?
Through the black and white spaces
Had I not broken the G string?

My forefathers
The Devils
Those genius souls
That sat in a room with a piano
Are with me now
Breaking God’s string

Perhaps ‘A’ is next